1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to network management and more specifically to analyzing and testing flows of packets in a packet network.
2. Introduction
In certain packet networks, network hardware can mark packets for processing through the network. Such markings can identify a packet as an audio packet, video packet, or data packet, for example. In one common configuration, the network infrastructure grants audio packets the highest priority, followed by video packets and then data packets. A problem arises in which a network administrator cannot identify a node or network segment which may be processing the packets in error. For example, a particular customer edge (CE) or provider edge (PE) device may be reading or interpreting packet markings in error and thus inappropriately treating high priority audio packets as data packets. As another example, a marking mechanism may be mismarking the packets, thus causing them to be inappropriately processed even though the network infrastructure is reading the packets correctly. Currently, it is very difficult for a network administrator to localize or identify a problem within the network in the scenarios set forth above. What is needed in the art is an analysis mechanism which enables an administrator to determine which node or entity or policy in the network is causing such a problem.
Second, insufficient and inconsistent data flows make testing even more difficult and time consuming. Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a mechanism to test the viability of detection and performance of network transmission of marked packets on a localized basis.